-Written by Michelle Vorob.
2024 SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW!
Mother, Couch!, written and directed by Niclas Larsson, is a quirky dramedy, with enough surrealism to make you question what exactly it is you're watching. By the end of the film, I wasn't sure how much had literally happened, how much was visual metaphor, and how much could have been a dream.
Adapted from the book, “Mamma/Soffa”, by Jerker Virdborg, Mother, Couch! stars Ewan McGregor as David, a dutiful son and family man, who is called to an all but abandoned furniture store because his mother (Ellen Burstyn) refuses to get off a couch. When he arrives, his older brother, Gruff (Rhys Ifans) is already there, but not with their mother. He's flirting with the pretty salesgirl, Bella (Taylor Russell).
It's important to note this defunct furniture store is semi-empty and semi-cluttered, all with a disarray of personal belongings. It looks like somewhere people could live in any of the popular post-apocalyptic TV series.
David rushes upstairs to find his mother, calmly sitting on a couch. He tells his mother it's time to go, they are late to get to his daughter Bree's (Penelope Jane Young) birthday party. Mother will not leave. He is calm, loving, understanding. Maybe she's suffering from dementia? Maybe she's hungry? Gruff comes upstairs to find out what's going on. He seemingly hasn't even talked to Mother yet. David is taken aback. He's the grounded one. The only one who seems normal in this already odd situation. It seems Mother needs her pills, which are at home. She insists on waiting there until she is given her pills.
David and Gruff go to Mother's house [for her pills]. The house, very much like the furniture store, has papers and belongings everywhere. Furniture is mostly covered in sheets. It's in complete disarray. Not dirty, just a sea of clutter, covering what you clearly see is/was a lovely home. David remarks that Mother must be moving, which Gruff nonchalantly dismisses. They can't find any pills.
Back at the furniture store, Mother says it doesn't matter, they weren't even really pills, just vitamins. David is getting understandably upset. I already wanted to strangle Mother. He is missing the entire birthday party. He also doesn't understand what is going on with his mother. Now the boys’ older sister, Linda (Lara Flynn Boyle) has gotten involved, who, like Gruff, doesn't want to be there and wants to end the situation by calling 911. David is the only one looking for a connection with his family, for meaning, for sense.
Mother, Couch! continues to get a bit more odd from here on, but what it does expertly is showcase family dysfunction in a poetic manner. It feels like David is stuck in a dream that helps him process his relationship with his mother and siblings. McGregor and the entire cast turn in stellar performances.
If you like quirky, eccentric films, you will love Mother, Couch! If you like psychological dramas, or in-depth character studies, you will like that aspect of Mother, Couch!
Written and Directed by Niclas Larsson.
Starring Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Taylor Russell, Ellen Burstyn, Lake Bell, Mar'Ques Woolford, Lara Flynn Boyle, Penelope Jane Young, F. Murray Abraham, etc.
8.5/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING
